The Pillars of the Earth: Four Evil Prettyboys for Fabula Ultima
The Pillars of the Earth are the most heartless warriors of the occupying empire, a gallery of the wicked and the beautiful, a so-called noble order whose virtue lies only in their name, tarnished by their deeds. They are four gorgeous men with deadly weapons: Jeanne, Shiro, Cecil, and the worst of them, Messiah.
Jeanne, the Cute One, is known for crying over the destruction left in the wake of his missions - not the people, but the things, the art, and most of all the flowers stained with blood. Throwing knives, he/him.
Shiro, the Fuckboy, talks like a country boy with lots of slang, wears a half mask with an open patterned-silk shirt displaying chest bandages, claims he fights better when he’s hammered. Oversized oni club, he/him.
Cecil, the One Who Thinks He’s Better Than You, wears long black hair in a hime cut plus round glasses and a modified uniform of the occupying empire. Writes poetry, talks about how worldly he is, corrects you on pronouncing your own language, just so much smarter and better than you, gets really steamed and stammers when he’s corrected and doesn’t have a comeback or someone asks how to boil an egg. Ornate glaive, he/him.
Messiah, the One You Can’t Stop, holds it together in a long peacoat or duster and thigh high heel boots, opera gloves, a vest and cravat, an eyepatch, and ethereal angel wings with matching halo. Operates from the shadows. When Messiah shows up in person, the fighting is over; all that’s left is killing hope. Dual katanas, any pronouns.
The basic flavor of their sexual tension* is:
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Shiro (after Amakusa Shiro) does whatever with whoever he wants as long as it makes him look bad
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Jeanne (as in d’Arc) is sweet but all words and no power, all promises that never pay off like you dreamed
Cecil (after the virgin martyr St. Cecilia):
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refuses to fuck Shiro no matter how he teases and tempts
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coldly blows off Jeanne’s obvious crush on him and revels in his tears
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is utterly painfully sincerely down bad for Messiah and fails to realize just how far they’re out of his league
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Messiah goes where the wind takes her and does as he pleases.
The party’s best source of information on the Pillars is Simony, a fujoshi with thick-framed glasses and an enormous but disorganized library who’s often tongue-tied in person and more articulate over text. Will reward the party each time they bring updated combat data (or souvenirs) from facing the Pillars. As trust builds with the party, Simony asks them to start using he/they rather than they/she for him.
* This lands one way if it’s all boiling just under the surface and not named explicitly by the Pillars (but PCs and other fearless gossips can say what they will), and another way if it’s openly text.